Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1379 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-05-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1960 producer-director George Pal's The Time Machine reshaped HG Wells' thoughtful, ironic novel into a two-fisted action movie, but one that still appeals to children and adults immensely and deserves its classic status. Wells' themes of biological and social evolution are played down, but there is a surprisingly melancholy thread as Rod Taylor's Time Traveller keeps stopping off at future wars to find that human stupidity still persists. In the first week of 1900 a group of fussy Victorians gather in Taylor's chintzy, overstuffed parlour to hear him tell of his expedition to the future, where the world is divided between the surface-dwelling, childish, beautiful Eloi and the hideous, underground, cannibal Morlocks. Wells intended both factions to seem degenerate, the logical final evolution of the class system, but Pal has Taylor pull a Captain Kirk and side with the Eloi and teach them to fight against their oppressors. The time travel sequence remains a tour de force, with a shop window mannequin demonstrating a parade of fashions as the years fly by in seconds and charming but still-effective stop-motion effects. The future is a wonderfully coloured landscape with properly gruesome cave-dwelling monsters and a winning Eloi heroine in Yvette Mimieux. It may not be totally Wells, but it's a treat.

On the DVD: The Time Machine arrives on disc in a lovely widescreen print which makes the film seem new all over again. The featurette "Time Machine: The Journey Back" combines some mild behind-the-scenes stuff about the film (and its star prop) with a moving mini-sequel reuniting stars Rod Taylor and Alan Young in a scene that actually addresses a plot point skipped over in the original. --Kim Newman

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Behind-the-Scenes documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back hosted by Rod Taylor and featuring Alan Young, Whit Bissell and others involved in the film
Trailer
Languages: Audio 5.1 English; Audio 1.0 French, Italian
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Romanian, Bulgarian; Hearing impaired, English, Italian
Widscreen 1.85:1

Synopsis
Setting the temporal starting point of the classic H.G. Wells novel in the year 1960 (rather than 1900), this engrossing adaptation follows time traveller George (Rod Taylor) as he passes through World Wars I, II, and III and finally stops in the year 802,701. There he finds an apathetic, placid people called the Eloi and falls in love with one of their number, the beauteous blonde Weena (Yvette Mimieux). To his horror, however, he learns that the Eloi's apathy is generated by a maniacal, cannibalistic underworld--and that the only way to help them is to incite a revolution. George Pal's version of THE TIME MACHINE is an exciting and faithful cinematic production of H.G. Wells's 1895 classic.

Customer Reviews

Mushrooms will sprout
"The Time Machine" remains a timeless film although the special effects in this 50 year old film are now somewhat dated. Rod Taylor plays the time traveller who travels forward in time by tens of thousands of years to find humanity divided into two; living on the Earth's surface are the Eloi, a passive,stupid but beautiful people who are preyed upon by the subterranean cannibalistic Morlocks.The hideous Morlocks do all the work while the Eloi live lives of idle leisure.Clearly the film is making inferences about the class system on Earth in the current age, perhaps taking things to extremes to make a point.When I was younger I found the scenes where Taylor fought the Morlocks in their cave terrifying , but the passage of time has dimmed their impact somewhat. However "The Time Machine" is still a memorable film and is well worth a watch.

Fascinating and timeless classic!

'The Time Machine' was one of the most exciting films ever made in the 1960s for me - partly because I have always had a fascination with time and have a house full of clocks myself! This had some pretty neat special effects - especially the 'talking discs' and the Morlocks! Some very intricate details with regard to aspects of time travel here that are often ignored or get left behind in other stories on this subject.

Stars a very 'dishy' Rod Taylor, who at thirty years of age in 1960 was not so young. Yvette Mimieux is excellent as the rather fey 'Weena' - a member of the 'Eloi' race from the future. This movie will keep you hooked until the very end!

As one of the 'special' features included on this DVD, there is an interesting documentary hosted by Rod Taylor on the survival of the actual 'Time Machine' used in the film!

very much ahead of it's time
I absolutely love this film.
I first saw it when I was a teenager and appreciate it more and more the more often I watch it. Considering it is from 1960 the special effects are great. But it is more about the story. These days films are all about special effects and get spoiled. It is great to see how things actually happen in faster time rather than just instantly go to the new place in time.
Excellent film indeed.